1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surgical drapes and, more particularly, to a surgical drape providing an arm board cover to cover the arms of a patient when the patient is reclining on an operating room table having arm boards extending laterally from the table. Surgical drapes of this type are frequently referred to as T-shaped surgical drapes, as the main portion of the drape has a portion extending across the top of the drape which is wider than the width of the main portion of the drape and is in the shape of a "T". An additional embodiment of the present invention also provides a surgical drape with integral leg coverings or leg drapes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Examples of drapes with arm board covers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,856,005 and 3,856,006. The surgical drape shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,005 is a laparotomy sheet with an upper, T-shaped portion to cover the arms of a patient. There is a gusset in the drape in the area where the wing or arm sections of the drape meet the main body of the drape. The gusset is made of additional drape material, and it enables the peripheral edge of the wing or arm sections to hang substantially vertically downward over the edge of the operating room table when the drape is in use.
The drape shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,006 consists of a main body to cover the torso of the patient and the patient's legs and a T-shaped portion which will cover the arm boards of the operating room table and the arms of the patient. The arm boards have flaps attached to the lower edge of the T-shaped portion or wing portion of the drape to allow this portion to hang down over the edge of the arm board when the drape is in use.
Although the drapes of the prior art provide an improved coverage of the arms of a patient, they suffer from certain difficulties. The drapes require multiple manufacturing steps to secure the extra material in the proper location, and the construction of the drapes also results in an exposed seam between the added pieces of material on the main body of the drape. The exposed seam could provide a possible path for the passage of bacteria through any opening in the seam, and the seams were the weakest point in the drape construction.
Prior art drapes which disclose leg coverings which are integral or attached to body covering portions of a drape include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,656 discloses a drape constructed with a central component to cover the torso of the patient and a pair of segmental shaped components to cover the legs of the patient. The drape disclosed is quite complicated to manufacture and, because of its complex shape, it is difficult to asceptically place on the patient in the operating room.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,593,121 discloses a medical examination drape with leg covering portions. This drape would not provide adequate coverage of the patient during a surgical procedure unless the drape was made using excess amounts of fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,360 discloses a one-piece gynecology or lithotomy drape with integral leg converings. The drape of this patent does not provide the degree of coverage of the patient's legs and torso without use of excess fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,750,663 discloses a lithotomy sheet which is similar to the lithotomy sheet disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,360.